Terror (A. Thiagarajan)

[RR]

Terror

- A. Thiagarajan


You do not have it
anymore-
doesn't matter
you are in San Diego
Singapore or
Mylapore-
really
nolonger matters-

long ago
I used to chant
as I sit at the steps
coming out of temples-
my dad and mom are
Parvathy and Parameshwar
all pious are my kinsmen
and all the three worlds
my swadesh….

My dad was there
as did my mom
my aunties, uncles
grandparents
and many unnamed ilk..
there was a discourse
at the street corner
a festival at the amman temple
no surfing nor the net
no google or yahoo search
I simply got the names and stories
and chants and vandana
without calling them
therapies and meditation
healing and what not-

the four streets around the temple
car streets –
north, east, south and west
and the god coming
as Utsava murthy
right in front of our house
for my dad's granny..

I rolled on the street mud
carrying it all the way
despite all
checks and controls
to the shores abroad…

now,
California or Coimbatore
you are only a visitor
though you live…
the car streets are stuffed with
mud no more
but sand embankments
the temple festivals
feel like high-security zones
everyone is frisked
you learn to look
all around surreptiously..

What you called nightmares
are no longer the nights'
to be awake today
is to be suspicious
[tscii:35d2daca06][/tscii:35d2daca06]

[pavalamani pragasam]

Very sad and true indeed! :( How did we let all good things slip through our fingers as the years roll by? Or what cruel destiny has snatched our happy times and traditions from us? :?: